Kuppet officials elected or appointed to state posts will not be stripped of their positions in the union.
However, they will not serve on a full-time basis, Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary-General Akello Misori said on Sunday.
PART-TIME
He said that the decision was arrived at during a meeting on January 26, where the National Executive Board (NEB) resolved that the affected officials serve the union on a part-time basis with immediate effect.
Mr Misori, however, said that the function of the national chairperson, a position held by Mr Omboko Milemba who was elected Emuhaya MP, would need a substantive holder.
Mr Milemba’s duties will now be taken up by Vice Chairman Julius Korir.
“That of paramount importance is the function of the national chairperson as the leader of the union delegation, which shall be forthwith performed by the national vice chairperson and any other term as shall be prescribed by NEB,” he said.
ROLES
He stated that Mr Milemba will do lighter duties that do not conflict with his itinerary in Parliament. Mr Milemba would also attend committee or board meetings when he is not in Parliament, but Mr Korir would perform all other roles including representing the union in meetings called by Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
“There are certain mandatory requirements like meetings where the chairman is required to attend, like when we are going to meet the Teachers Service Commission the person required to lead the delegation is the chairman. That is even in our recognition agreement on terms of engagement,” he said.
Mr Misori added that the functions of other union officials that require full-time engagement would be performed by designated union officials according to its constitution.
TSC
This comes amidst the backdrop of the decision by TSC to deregister officials of the union who had joined politics.
TSC wrote to both Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Chairman Wilson Sossion and Kuppet chairman, Mr Milemba, informing them that they were no longer on the list of teachers in the country.
The commission’s decision also affected Kuppet national assistant treasurer Ronald Tonui who won the Bomet Central MP seat and gender secretary Catherine Wambilianga, who was elected Bungoma Woman Representative.
The commission stated that regulation 187 (1) and (2) of the Code of Regulations for Teachers dictated that teachers who seek elective positions and hold trade union positions must resign or retire from service, with the deregistration rendering them non-eligible for leadership at the teachers’ unions.